McDonald not going to World Cup

Scott McDonald will not be going to the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa after being omitted from the 28 man squad that will leave for South Africa this week.

The squad will further be reduced to the required 23 and the other players will stay in South Africa and be on stand-by in case
of any injuries.

Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek thinks that McDonald does not fit his preferred formation of having one striker upfront and he has decided to leave him.

Although McDonald has never scored a goal for the Socceroos so far I think he must be given a chance because he is always
going to be a goal threat and this World Cup could have been the time he was going to break his duck.

I think now there is a crisis for strikers because in the squad there is Josh Kennedy and Nikita Rukavytsya left as recognised strikers.

How much the Socceroos miss Mark Viduka?

I think Verbeek is looking for goals to come from midfield from players like Tim Cahill. That could be expecting too much.

Also out of the squad is Nick Carle and defender Jade North. I am not surprised by Carle's omission because he hasn't been playing regularly for his team Crystal Palace.

He was on the bench in the last two matches of the season and never got onto the pitch.

I am now very keen to see what happens in the next match against Denmark. The New Zealand did not give any pointers and I think that was understandable but against Denmark I expect to see more cohesion.